Radio_Lady Reviews: "Miami Vice" (2006)

[Radio_Lady]

“Miami Vice” Advice…

“Miami Vice” (2006) stars Colin Farrell as Sonny Crockett and Jamie Foxx as Ricardo Tubbs. The setting is still South Florida, as well as other beautiful hot weather locales around the world. The movie stands on its own and I thought it was just so-so as a summer crime thriller. This is definitely NOT a chick flick. It's more of a dddd…well, I don't want to say it… you know, more of a guy thing. My husband, who was a devoted fan of the TV show, had a lot to say about this “Miami Vice”.



He advised not to go see this flick looking for Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, the TV show’s Crockett and Tubbs. My husband watched every TV episode faithfully. He complained that Colin Farrell is no Don Johnson. He wondered whatever did happen to Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. Well, it turns out they've been involved in a number of different things, but nothing as memorable as the original “Miami Vice.” And he really misses them! I think I heard him cry “boo hoo”!

OK, let’s get off of this Don Johnson thing. Here’s the deal on the Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx outing…

There are really bad drug traffickers in and about Miami. What better guys to go undercover for the FBI than Crockett and Tubbs? They may be known by those familiar with Miami PD Vice squad, but will not be recognized in their roles as deputized undercover drug enforcement FBI agents. Now that’s a real stretch, obviously contrived, to justify them going…undercover. Perhaps director/writer Michael Mann also thought it was a plus that the film’s heroes don’t look anything like Johnson and Thomas, nor does their endlessly beautiful but evil tropical environment. In USA Today, Mann says, "It ain't the 1980s any more." Sorry, but for me this is not a good thing because people DO remember the 1980s, and they do remember “Miami Vice” -- even though Michael Mann didn't pay homage to much of anything that was included in the original series.

So where was I? Oh yes, bad drug traffickers, and cops undercover as deputized FBI agents. Throw in some sexy broads for love interests, some really fast cars, and some really, really fast speedboats and…abracadbra…what have you got? A Michael Mann written and directed movie that pretends to be “Miami Vice” the movie but the similarity with “Miami Vice” the TV show ends there…with the title. Smells like, and feels like a bit of a rip-off. Hubby says he demands a sequel that stars the real Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas -- drug traffickers (and Michael Mann) be damned!

As I said, this is just an "okay" summer thriller and I’ll give it a C+ rating on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card. My husband adds, "Michael Mann should have checked on Johnson’s and Thomas’s availabilities… that movie could have been the stuff that Academy Awards are made of.”

Then he went off to check the TV schedule to see when the next CSI Miami was going to be on.

Cast: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Luis Tosar, Naomie Harris, John Ortiz, Barry Shabaka Henley, Ciaran Hints Release Date: 7/28/06 (wide)
Running Length: 2:10
MPAA Classification: R (Nudity, violence, profanity, sexual situations)
Director: Michael Mann
Screenplay: Michael Mann
Cinematography: Dion Beebe
Music: Klaus Badelt
Distributor: Universal Pictures

[sundog]

1. i avoid michael mann at every given opportunity

this will be no exception to that rule

[Floogeldy]

4. I'm crazy about "The Last Of The Mohicans"

"Collateral" was great, too.

However, admittedly, I am easily entertained. ;)

[Radio_Lady]

8. "I am easily entertained." You must be like my son. Since he was

a little boy, we've observed he would watch anything that moved...

[Floogeldy]

16. Yes but have you seen the 1992 version of LOTM?

With Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe?





:cry:

[WCGreen]

23. I loved that movie....

He seems to have risen to the occassion and then slipped back into Schlock....

[Radio_Lady]

33. Michael Mann's "The Last of the Mohicans" -- I'm sorry, but I don't

think I saw that one. I was not reviewing movies during 1992 -- I worked in radio advertising for Lojack Corporation and wasn't as "tuned in" as in other years. Will have to look that one up.

Thanks for the information.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[WCGreen]

35. It really was well done...

They night filmed and it was realistic as all git out...

[Radio_Lady]

48. UPDATE: Just rented a VHS copy of "The Last of the Mohicans"!

You'd be proud of me -- I went right out and got it.

We'll probably watch it this weekend.

Thanks again!

[Floogeldy]

69. Yea Baby!!!!!!!

If you don't love it, I'll faint! :)

[Radio_Lady]

79. Floogeldy and W C Green, you're right! I loved it!

Brutal and bloody, but brilliant! Thanks again for bringing it to my attention.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

53. Make that a top choice for rental.

One of the most beautifully filmed movies of the decade. Great action scenes too. I don't think they stuck particularly close to the Cooper novel, but they got the romantic spirit just right. Romantic in the less commonly used sense of the word.

[Radio_Lady]

55. See update above. We'll be watching it really soon!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

58. Excellent!

Make some popcorn, turn down the lights, and turn up that surround sound.

[Radio_Lady]

80. Bornagain, thanks so much. We had cherries, not popcorn.

Fabulous flick!

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

57. I like that they avoided simliarities to the show.

On edit: whoops. This was meant to be a reply to the OP.

Understand that I haven't seen the movie yet, and I wasn't a fan of the show.

I just thing there's huge potential for really good movie set in Miami and points south involving the drug trade. "Scarface" comes to mind. The acting is great in that movie, but it's the location that sells it.

And Michael Mann- phew! If he can combine the gritty, stylish criminal underworld he depicted in Heat, with the picturesque romantic bravado of Last of the Mohicans, than I'm looking forward to seeing this movie.

[Radio_Lady]

60. See it if you must. It's gritty, all right -- grainy, too -- hope it

doesn't disappoint! Let us know, OK?

[Kajsa]

14. Floogeldy, WHERE can I get that

air conditioner, without spending a fortune?!?
I look at it with envy.

It seems like my entire area is sold out!
Money and energy efficiency are big considerations.

Help!- Thanks!

:hi:


Sorry for the digression, Radio Lady.

[Radio_Lady]

18. Air conditioning is my favorite subject in the summer, next to movies.

No problem here, Kajsa. Is that a Carrier air conditioner? Sorry you're so hot.

I'm one of those people who barely gets through the 4th of July, and then I'm ready for Labor Day.

[Floogeldy]

21. Sears

:)

But if you are desperate, they shouldn't be that difficult to steal.

Disclaimer: I do not advise or recommend engaging in theft.

[Kajsa]

32. Thanks!

:-)

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

19. You need to watch Thief (James Caan)

They used real cops and genuine bad-guy techniques in this one- they had some real diamond theives as consultants. It's a great flick- that, plus Tangerine Dream did the soundtrack!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_(film)

[Radio_Lady]

22. You mean Michael Mann and James Caan "Thief" from 1981?

Looks neat! I don't think I've ever seen that one.

Thanks for the information. (Your link went to the word "Thief" in Wikipedia, sorry...)

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0083190/

Plot Summary for Thief (1981)
Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specializing in high-profile diamond jobs. After having spent many years in prison, he has a very concrete picture of what he wants out of life--including a nice home, a wife, and kids. As soon as he is able to assemble the pieces of this collage, by means of his chosen profession, he intends to retire and become a model citizen. In an effort to accelerate this process, he signs on to take down a huge score for a big-time gangster. Unfortunately, Frank's obsession for his version of the American Dream allows him to overlook his natural wariness and mistrust, when making the deal for his final job. He is thus ensnared and robbed of his freedom, his independence, and, ultimately, his dream.

[Yavin4]

52. Isn't That A Line In A Song

about Tangerine Dream being the soundtrack to Thief

[graywarrior]

2. No one can replace Don Johnson. NO ONE.

[Radio_Lady]

10. He's a father again... and again.

U.S. actor Don Johnson adjusts his glasses as he ...

Sun Apr 30, 3:51 AM (Oh, I don't know what year this was... sorry!)

LOS ANGELES - "Miami Vice" and "Nash Bridges" star Don Johnson and his wife Kelley celebrated their seventh anniversary with the birth of their third child, a spokesman announced Sunday.

The baby boy, who is yet to be named, was born Saturday morning at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 27 1/2 inches long and weighed 7 pounds, spokesman Elliot Mintz said.

Johnson described himself as "over the moon times six," Mintz said.

Mother and baby were both doing well.

The couple also have a baby boy named Jasper and a daughter named Grace.

Johnson has a daughter, Dakota, with actress Melanie Griffith, and a son, Jesse, with actress Patti D'Arbanville.

[graywarrior]

13. Jasper?

[Radio_Lady]

20. I cannot vouch for that information. Here's his latest bio on IMDB:

http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0000467/bio

[graywarrior]

24. Jasper Breckenridge Johnson

Poor little bastard

[Radio_Lady]

26. "There's no accounting for taste," she said, as she kissed the cow's

ass.

[graywarrior]

27. Too bad I won't live long enough to watch what happens to the

poor kid.

[zonkers]

36. Just saw him in The Hotspot on cable. Very good noir thriller directed by

Dennis Hopper. Virginia Madsen was in it too. So Was Bill Sidler, my favorite character actor.

[ForrestGump]

43. So were my beloved Jennifer Connelly's breasts

(back when she had breasts, and back before she tore my heart apart by marrying that streaker from A Knight's Tale) :D

[zonkers]

46. How could I have left Connelly out? She was why I tuned in to begin

with. She was superfine in that film. But now she has this Hollywood Pilates look, all pointy and lean. No good. And yeah, if she had married you instead of that actor dweeb, you surely would have advised her not to make that clunker of a film with Ben Kingsley.

[ForrestGump]

47. Ah, yes, the film that would make even Richard Simmons think of suicide

She sure messed up when she turned down my proposal, got the restraining order, and had me escorted out of her back yard. :-(

[Floogeldy]

3. That's a high rating for you!

If Radio_Lady gives it a C+, that probably means I'm going to love it! ;)

[Radio_Lady]

5. Are you planning to see it, Floogeldy?

Hey, go to it! It's a hot summer and you probably need a cool theater break!

I'm trying to be charitable here. I might have rated it even lower but the man in my life convinced me that I might have liked it more if I were the opposite sex.

Do you follow that logic? I hope so!



Snippets of dialog are all you hear from these two guys! Don't get me started about all the various actors who can't even pronounce their English correctly. But, what the heck? As one moviegoer said, "This is what you get when a director spends $2 million dollars on technology and $20 and a keg of beer on the script."

[Floogeldy]

6. I'm definitely planning to see it.

When it comes on HBO next December. ;)

[Radio_Lady]

7. Good retort! Thanks for posting!

I do appreciate your taking the time to respond.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. Never saw the original show

so I have no interest in the movie version.

Personally, I'm holding out for the Sex and the City movie!:applause:

[Radio_Lady]

11. Ah... HA! I'm just getting around to seeing the TV episodes in re-run.

[Reciprocity]

12. So should I see the movie or wait for the DvD?

I just got through watching the pilot for M V on the new Sleuth channel. Next to CNN for all you Dish users. It will repeat at the top of the hour.

I must say it is still entertaining after all these years. I can't say the same for some of my favs from years gone by.

[Radio_Lady]

17. Should you see it now or wait until later? Is that a question for...

King Solomon?

How's your money situation? First-run movies cost like the dickens and you don't even get popcorn or drinks at a reasonable price.

Do you have a hot date tomorrow night(movie opens on Friday, July 28th)? Over the weekend?

Need a cool place to sit for a couple of hours while you ignore the heat?

Do you like Colin Farrell and/or Jamie Foxx so much you will accept them in any roles they play?

Enjoy actors who speak English as a second language which seem to incompletely masquerade as their primary language?

One of the critics I know says it best. "This is my opinion and it's just first. The only one that counts is yours, which comes later."

C+. That's just slightly over marginal for me.

[Kajsa]

15. As much as I like Jamie Foxx, I too would like

to see the original Crockett and Tubbs in the movie.

Your husband and I have Miami based shows in common.

I am a CSI Miami regular. Heck, i even liked to watch
" Invasion" before ABC canceled it.

There's something very intriguing about Florida/Miami
based dramas. One day, I'd love to visit there.

:hi:

[Radio_Lady]

25. Did you know that I grew up in Miami? My folks and I moved down

there when I was three years old. Miami is beautiful, but of course, I remember it in 1940-50-60s. I haven't been there since 1991. My 50th high school reunion is going to be in October 2006; however, we've decided on Orlando for a locale.

Here's my family picture when I was only six:

[Kajsa]

34. What a great photo, Radio Lady!

You have a very handsome family.

Miami must have been very different in the 50's and 60's
before all the massive development.

Thanks so much for sharing this!

;-) :hi:

[RagingInMiami]

40. I think this thread calls for your

Venetian Pool photo.

[Radio_Lady]

49. Here you go -- glad to oblige! (HOT PHOTO)

This belongs in the photo thread about "The Way We Were" -- from 1956:

[RagingInMiami]

64. Very nice

From head to toe.

[Radio_Lady]

66. Ah, those were the days... at least, they seemed more happy than now.

[RebelOne]

41. I grew up in Miami also.

My parents moved there right after WWII started. I lived there until 1989 when I moved up here to North Georgia. I hated Miami, its heat, its bugs and its crime.

[Radio_Lady]

50. My family moved from Pittsburgh in 1942 or '43. We lived in

south Miami Beach on Washington Avenue, which used to be more of a ghetto area before it became upscale.

Next stop was North Miami on NE 131st Street -- and then to Keystone Point, off Biscayne Boulevard, after that.

I left after graduating from Univ. of Miami with degree in TV, Radio & Film, in 1962 to seek my fame and fortune in New York City.

Briefly returned in 1969, 1970 and 1971 with my former husband. Left again in 1972 for the final time.

I still think of the soft smell of gardenias, the ocean in the morning with the sun rising, the sweet smell of the heat between two adolescent bodies... my memories are all wrapped up in my youth. I won't be living in that place again, mainly because it doesn't exist any more.

[RagingInMiami]

39. Down here

Reality is stranger than fiction. And that ain't no lie.

[Kajsa]

45. Raging, that is exactly what I find

so intriguing about the city.

:hi:

[terrya]

28. I'm truly sick and tired of television shows being turned into movies.

"Bewitched" cured me of that once and for all.

I have no interest in seeing "Miami Vice" whatsoever. I didn't even like the television series very much.

Thsnks for confirming my not spending $10 bucks to see this.

[Radio_Lady]

30. No problem. Reviewers are kind of mercenary soldiers in the

publicity battles of the movie industry. We replace your having to see the films -- then you don't have to go.

In my case, it's not mercenary, since I am a VOLUNTEER film reviewer (I'm still doing what I used to do, but I don't get paid anymore).

In peace,

Radio_Lady in Oregon

[Frank Cannon]

29. Without the Jan Hammer soundtrack, I don't see the point

That music set the scene for the show and, in my opinion, MADE the show the icon that it is. Hammer created an entire hour's worth of music EVERY WEEK, which is an unbelievable achievement.

Hammer was offered the chance to do the music for this movie. He turned it down. I don't blame him.

[Radio_Lady]

31. Thanks for this insight, Frank. I didn't know about this and haven't

had the time to do much background work on this film.

Chalk it up to international travel, grandchildren to babysit, and other pleasant activities of the summer.

Appreciate your taking time to post.

In peace,

Radio_Lady



Link to:

http://www.janhammer.com/

http://www.janhammer.com/credits.html

He's certainly a very prolific musician!

[zonkers]

37. Yeah Radio Lady but how bad were the Bad Guys?!!! Isn't that what

crime drama/action flix are all about? And considering that Tony Montana set the bar pretty high as far as Miami bad guys go, I'd like to know if Mann came close to topping him.

[Radio_Lady]

51. Al Pacino's role in Scarface (1983). Naw, I don't think Mann got there.

Brian de Palma directed, and Oliver Stone did the screenplay.

As I recall, that was a pretty fierce movie. I'd like to see it again. Thanks for the memories.

Link to Scarface here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/

Plot Summary for
Scarface (1983)
Remake of the 1932 film, which follows the rise of Tony Montana, a Cuban emigre who, with his friend Manny Ray, builds a strong criminal empire in early 1980's Miami.

I always kind of thought my ex-husband looked like Al Pacino.

Here he is with our daughter this spring. (Maybe it's just the beard and the dark glasses.)

[RagingInMiami]

38. My mom saw it

And she said it was very slow in the beginning. She wasn't too impressed. I will wait until it comes out on DVD to see it.

But as a native Miamian, I have to tell you that Miami has changed drastically since the 1980s. So I have to agree with Mann about the "sorry it's not the 1980s anymore". The city has matured and I would resent it if they tried to make it come across as it was 20 years ago.

[Radio_Lady]

54. You could be right -- but some of us older folks didn't get what we

thought was promised by the title.

Thanks for your comments, Raging!

[RagingInMiami]

61. Don't get me wrong

I'm dissapointed that the movie has not lived up to its hype. Back in the Miami Vice TV days, Michael Mann was a genius in starting off each show with a bang. Every show, even before the opening credits, there was a scene that just grabbed the viewer into not switching channels.

Either an explosion or a drug deal gone bad or a shooting rampage on McCarthur Causeway. Then it would go into theme music and the opening credits, with the skyline and the beaches and the girls in bikinis.

Now I don't know how the movie opened up, but my mom said she almost fell asleep during the first half of the movie. I would think having the freedom of a movie that is not restricted by network censors would allow Mann to make it even more explosive, but apparently, he failed.

[Radio_Lady]

68. The movie opened up with violence, lots of stuff going on, and not

much development of character -- you sort of had to know who the two guys were at the outset.

Frankly, I didn't notice the music very much -- except that it was quite loud. I didn't fall asleep in the beginning, but was struggling to understand what was going on. Assisted hearing devices (headsets) might have helped, because the crowd was somewhat noisy. This was a screening sponsored by some of the local radio stations.

There were no beaches and no girls in bikinis. There were a couple of love scenes -- one with Foxx and a friend -- not sure if the woman was supposed to be his wife, and another with Gong Li of China and Colin Farrell of Ireland. I don't think the last pairing was very realistic, but that might just be me.

A large group of screening devotees sitting closer to the screen -- whooped and hollered somewhat during those scenes. The scenes were shot tastefully and methodically.

[Jade Fox]

76. Miami must be very different now from when I lived there....

ever so briefly in the late sixties. It was very unsophisticated then. I look at the visuals from CSI: Miami, and my jaw drops.

[ForrestGump]

42. I'll skip this as I diligently skipped the TV show

I just felt proverbial bile rise whenever that show came on air and have never seen more than a few minutes of it. Maybe it was Don Johnson, who I've always been allergic to (never saw his latest show with Cheech, but I suspect I'd now find him okay) -- I remember in 1985, him being touted 'sexiest man alive" and me being totally mystified as to why. The trendy pastel jackets with the sleeves pulled up kind of nauseated me, too (the inlaws later bought me an expensive example, albeit in black, but I didn't feel bad about it 'cos I was by then distanced far enough from the mid-'80s, when every male in certain parts of the US seemed to trade their leisure suits and discowear for those Armani (or whatever) jackets). I guess it was all just too trendy, too overly laden with obnoxious '80s music (I was disconcerted to see TV program guides list the songs that'd be on each show's soundtrack), too pastel, and too Don Johnson.

And I find Colin Farrell an irritating little f*** at the best of times.

[Radio_Lady]

56. I feel obliged to ask you -- who are the current actors that you like?

Who do you remember from your younger years who might have been "the sexiest man alive" instead of DJ?

Just askin' -- have a good weekend!

[GalleryGod]

44. So...you're saying we should avoid going, R.L. Here's my "back story"

and I'm stickin' to it !

B-) I lived in Miami Beach from 1986-1989 the heady hey days of "The Vice". Actually went out on 3 dates with Sandy Santiago, (caught up with her in NYC 3 years ago at SilverCup studios, whilst she was doing Jeanie Cusamano in the Sopranos), and enjoyed a semi-friendship with Mike Talbott, Detective Stan Switek.

I'm edging to NOT going if you say it doesn't at least pay some homage' to the original.

[Radio_Lady]

59. Read it and weep. Almost all reviewers says, "Title only..."

Miami looks so different and the only remaining link are the two characters -- one white and one black. That's it. No pastels. No comedy. A few skin shots but not enough to qualify for pornography. Only the title remains the same.

Sorry to disappoint you.

I did catch some of the road signs for "Key Biscayne" "NW 2nd Avenue," a bit of the MacArthur Causeway (or it could have been the North Bay Causeway, a couple of locations in what might have been Coral Gables, references to "Overtown" came up in dialog (I don't even know where that is.) -- and lots of expressway shots -- garage shots --locations on the tops of buildings looking over the whole panorama of Miami today.

For me, virtually unrecognizable from what I knew back when.

Here's a pretty neat link (LARGE PHOTO)...

http://galeon.hispavista.com/marino/img/miami

[RagingInMiami]

63. Overtown is the black neighborhood north of downtown Miami

[Radio_Lady]

65. I don't remember what they called that neighborhood, but it wasn't

Overtown. It was another name which I have forgotten.

[Radio_Lady]

71. I recall it was "Liberty City" -- ironically, from an era of segregation.

[RagingInMiami]

73. Liberty City is north of Overtown

And was developed after WW II. But Overtown, originally called Colored Town, was one of Miami's original black neighborhoods, the other being the Bahamian settlement in Coconut Grove.

Back in the 1930s, Overtown was called "Little Broadway" because Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway frequently played there until the morning hours. After all, they frequently played for white audiences on Miami Beach, but they were not allowed to stay in Miami Beach, so they stayed in Overtown and jammed until sunlight.

[Radio_Lady]

74. Thanks for the local history lesson, Raging!

[RagingInMiami]

72. They used to call it "colored town"

[Radio_Lady]

75. Well, we were Northerners from Pittsburgh, and I avoided that

terminology like the plague. My father despised the Southerners who supported segregation, and as a Jewish family, we often had to endure anti-semitism in North Miami.

I always knew there was something very wrong with transporting children of another race 25 miles to segregated schools. But what can an elementary or high school kid do about it?

I'm proud to say that WTVJ desegregated the TV show I worked on as a college student. That was in 1957 or 1958.

Here's my first job on WTVJ's "Popeye Playhouse" with co-host "Skipper" Chuck Zink (now deceased). Please note the black children in the audience.

[nosillies]

62. If you didn't like the TV show, you might like the movie.

I really enjoyed it. Unlike the TV show, it was very dark, had little to no humor, no "buddy cop" themes, no 80's kitsch or cheese. If you don't like Michael Mann a la Collateral and Heat, then you won't like this.

Warning: it can be hard ot follow if you don't pay attention. The guy behind me complained that he didn't know what was going on by the end. No shit, he never shut up. Also, a couple of the actors speak heavily accented English, so more paying attention!

edited to add:
For those debating theater vs. DVD -- I say theater simply for the fact that this had the most amazing sounding gunfire I've heard since I don't know when. But I'm a movie nerd, so things like the sound of gunfire get me pumped.

[Radio_Lady]

67. Gunfire gets you pumped? Hm, have we got some wars for you!

Seriously, others have reported the same effect -- if you didn't like the TV show, you could end up loving the movie. I appreciate your sharing it with me today.

Thanks for your comment!

Have an EXCELLENT weekend...

[Radio_Lady]

70. Think I'm getting homesick for Florida today.

[Jade Fox]

77. Being a big Michael Mann fan.....

I am psyched to see "Miami Vice". I was never a huge fan of the show, so I won't experience that kind of disappointment.

Those who haven't seen Mann's films "The Insider" and "Heat" must get thee to the video store immediately!

[Radio_Lady]

78. UPDATE: "The Last of the Mohicans" was amazing! Viewed last night

for the first time (hubby said he had seen it before, but didn't remember much of it). Fantastic Mann film!

It was partially filmed in western North Carolina, where I lived from August to December 1970 (in Flat Rock, NC).

Beautiful country!

[Radio_Lady]

81. Another Update: Did anybody see this movie on Saturday? Plan to see it?

[Radio_Lady]

82. Too busy to post your review today?

This was the top-rated movie this week, beating out Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nobody saw it yet around here?